Nigeyy
Legendary Member
- Location
- Massachusetts, USA
Well, had a near incident on my commute into work today.
I cycle along a quiet residential area road, with a stop sign at the end -and usually there are cars parked close to the stop sign on the other side of the road. Unfortunately, and since the street is quiet, it seems many of the car drivers who pull in either don't pay attention or aren't looking for cyclists and tend to stray into the middle without realizing I'm there. While I understand the need for primary, in this case discretion is the better part of valour; I think there's more of a chance you'd get ploughed over than a driver noticing you and acting accordingly. Anyway, I feel it's no big deal to me to keep more to the side than usual just for the 20-30 metres or so to get to the junction safely.
So this morning: same routine. I've done it quite a few times now, and to be honest, was a little careless. Just as I'm approaching the juction, a Toyota Prius reverses out of a driveway on my side of the road -and just barely stops in time to not run me over (pheww! Big thanks to the alert car driver). I just didn't see the signs of a car reversing. Anyway lessons learned:
i. when you stray from your normal behaviour for a reason, remember you open yourself up to issues you normally avoid (sounds obvious right? But I forgot).
ii. if you have the sun behind you, you do not as easily pickup on a white reversing light (I'm very aware of the fact you can be hard to see with the sun behind you, but I forgot how hard it is to pick up on a reversing light with the sun low, bright and behind you).
iii. Hybrid cars at low speed do not put out exhaust fumes -nor are easily audible. You can't see those fumes, nor hear the engine.
iv. Just because you cycle on the same road at the same time does not mean you can expect the same traffic.
v. I have a feeling the reason why the driver noticed me at the last moment was because I was wearing a hi-viz vest. I can't be sure, but I think it caught his eye.
vi. try not to switch off; even on a nice quiet road.
Lessons learned.... while you can put the onus on the driver to look carefully before backing out (which I think he did) I didn't like the fact I didn't identify a danger -a danger I think I regularly pick up almost always. A helping of humble pie, please.....
I cycle along a quiet residential area road, with a stop sign at the end -and usually there are cars parked close to the stop sign on the other side of the road. Unfortunately, and since the street is quiet, it seems many of the car drivers who pull in either don't pay attention or aren't looking for cyclists and tend to stray into the middle without realizing I'm there. While I understand the need for primary, in this case discretion is the better part of valour; I think there's more of a chance you'd get ploughed over than a driver noticing you and acting accordingly. Anyway, I feel it's no big deal to me to keep more to the side than usual just for the 20-30 metres or so to get to the junction safely.
So this morning: same routine. I've done it quite a few times now, and to be honest, was a little careless. Just as I'm approaching the juction, a Toyota Prius reverses out of a driveway on my side of the road -and just barely stops in time to not run me over (pheww! Big thanks to the alert car driver). I just didn't see the signs of a car reversing. Anyway lessons learned:
i. when you stray from your normal behaviour for a reason, remember you open yourself up to issues you normally avoid (sounds obvious right? But I forgot).
ii. if you have the sun behind you, you do not as easily pickup on a white reversing light (I'm very aware of the fact you can be hard to see with the sun behind you, but I forgot how hard it is to pick up on a reversing light with the sun low, bright and behind you).
iii. Hybrid cars at low speed do not put out exhaust fumes -nor are easily audible. You can't see those fumes, nor hear the engine.
iv. Just because you cycle on the same road at the same time does not mean you can expect the same traffic.
v. I have a feeling the reason why the driver noticed me at the last moment was because I was wearing a hi-viz vest. I can't be sure, but I think it caught his eye.
vi. try not to switch off; even on a nice quiet road.
Lessons learned.... while you can put the onus on the driver to look carefully before backing out (which I think he did) I didn't like the fact I didn't identify a danger -a danger I think I regularly pick up almost always. A helping of humble pie, please.....
